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My thoughts on this are simple. If you aren't keeping them for serious educational or research reasons, there is no valid reason to keep them. They are a horrible choice for someone just looking to have a cool pet. There are over 2000 other choices that are just as cool and can't kill you or your friends and family. If you are keeping them for education or research then of course you know how important it is to educate yourself on this subject and to do the research [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] The first thing you need to research is SNAKE BITE PROTOCOL for your particular species. There is no one answer for this since venom from different species varys so greatly. Weigh the risk and the expense or even the availability of treatment against the desire to own before you bring one home. I have been handling hots, mostly roadside rescue/relocation since my mid-teens to present time...in all 20+ years. No matter how beautiful the animal or what a great set of rattles some may have had, I never had even this slightest urge to want to bring any home other than one baby copperhead. Sure there are cooler hots just as available. But the venom is mild as is the temperment and risk is low and I am getting involved in education so I needed at least one representitive. Copperheads are needlessly feared and slaughtered in great numbers where I live and I hope to end some of that. Some animals are best when left to enjoy in their natural environment. I love Killer Whales too as much as any Marine Biologist....But I have no plans to keep them either. It is OK to admire and love something and not feel a need to cage it. It is also OK to fear or respect something and not feel a need to kill it. Those that collect hots for the purpose of being cool and to impress people, I have only 2 words for "Natural Selection". You can wave to Darwin on the way out.
For those who aren't so easily discouraged:
As far as a starter snake...I agree with those that say start with a thrashy demonic nippy colubrid like a coachwhip or a racer and avoid bites for a year. Another good choice before keeping vipers is a viper boa. They are nippy by nature and strike in much the same way puff adders and gaboon vipers do.
For a first actual hot I would go rear fanged, anything other than a boomslang.
then maybe a copperhead, pigmy rattlesnake, eyelash viper, waglers viper, palm viper. These are all fairly mild and considered sub-lethal. This does not mean that a bite will not be painful and serious. You still could lose a limb or the use of one.
Before even thinking about getting cobras, taipans, atrox etc. spend the money for the antivenen. If you can't afford it then you can't afford the snakes. Your insurance will usually not cover a bite from your exotic pet and the zoos and research centers are doing good to afford what stock they have to protect their employees. It is very expensive. Probably more than your car cost and it expires so it is an ongoing expense.
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